Chapter Text
At the beginning of the fourth session, Martyn awoke to the sound of Scott's footsteps. His ally was climbing up their wooden stairs, likely after retrieving some materials from the storage area underneath their beach house.
"How did your mining session go?" Scott asked, when he saw Martyn blinking awake.
"Awfully," Martyn replied, rubbing his tired eyes. When he'd returned from mining, Scott had been taking a quick rest, and Martyn had been too exhausted to do anything else but lay down and take a nap. "I was down there for ages, I swear, and I got... nothing."
"Well, you're in luck." Scott was smiling slyly. "Because I decided to do some early mining, and look what I've got for you."
He tossed a thin cloth bag at Martyn before descending back down the stairs and heading towards their chicken pen. Martyn didn't even need to open the bag - even just feeling it, he could tell there was almost a dozen diamonds inside.
"That's so many!" Martyn said in awe, now fully awake. "How did you do it?"
"I got really lucky this time," Scott shrugged, grabbing some seeds from his bag to feed the chickens. "But I'm sure that means my luck has already ran out for this session."
Martyn pulled himself to his feet and brushed the wrinkles from his shirt. "You know, I needed these diamonds because YOU have a target on your back, my friend. Having better armor will definitely help me defend you. I mean, how many hours do you even have?"
"I think I have the most time out of anyone, as far as I know," Scott sighed, checking his timer. Martyn's ally still had those distinctly green eyes, bright as emeralds - certainly more appealing than the dusty yellow that Martyn's eyes currently were. "I've got a bit less than 18 hours, according to my pocket watch."
"And, well," Martyn muttered, crafting himself some new armor out of the diamonds, "if there's time to be gained by defending you and slaying someone... well, that's just an added bonus, right?"
According to Martyn's own timer, which was an hourglass that hung around his neck on a thin gold chain, he had about 15 and a half hours to his name. They all had unique timers, from Pearl's vintage silver analog watch to Joel's plastic digital timer to Bdubs and Impulse's matching golden pocket watches. Their timepieces had appeared at the start, and it seemed like they were impossible to lose or steal - not that Joel and Jimmy hadn't tried to do the latter several times already.
Scott lifted his hand over his brow to shield his eyes from the sun, gazing towards spawn. "Heads up - the Bad Boys are chasing after... Bdubs? Oh, they've hit him-"
"Let's go join in," Martyn declared, grabbing his sword off the side table.
"Now, if I get closer," Scott said warily, "I'm just going to be another target."
Martyn nodded. "Then I'll go and you can watch from the sidelines. I'll be back soon."
"See you then," replied Scott, smiling.
It was quickly clear that a hunting party had formed, with Joel and Grian leading the charge. Martyn had expected nothing less from the Bad Boys, who, after trying and failing to kill Bdubs (and somehow succeeding in killing Cleo), immediately made their way towards TIES tower in search of Tango and Impulse. Scott, ever the pragmatist, had made himself scarce, and Martyn found himself travelling casually between groups, trying to gather information.
Of course, that was a useless endeavor when the Bad Boys had no plan besides random violence, so Martyn quickly ditched them to sneak into the TIES basement. He followed Impulse and a well-hidden Scott into a secret room, joined Cleo in travelling to the Nether with them, and cautiously made his way across a precarious basalt bridge in the fiery hellscape. Somehow, braving the burning lava and monstrous beasts of the Nether was safer than travelling through the overworld, and next thing they knew, they were exiting another portal on top of the mansion, with the Bread Bridge in front of them.
"Say, Scott," Cleo asked as they made their way carefully across the bridge and back to the Clocker's tower, "would ever you consider just... letting me kill you?"
"Hm?" Scott didn't even seem caught off guard by her question, though Martyn felt instantly defensive.
"They're gonna hunt you as long as they can, and they might even be successful. I really don't want any of them to get your time. Wouldn't it be easier if I just killed you now?" Cleo shrugged. "I mean, you don't have to, but it would certainly save you the stress."
Scott considered this, then nodded approvingly. "I'd like to wait a little longer to see if this hunt continues... but if it does, sure. Why not?"
Martyn had also thought about a similar solution earlier in the session, of course, but he'd thought it would be too forward to ask. Now he was regretting his hesitancy.
In the distance, they heard an explosion. Instantly, Martyn and Impulse had their communicators out. On the screens, they saw that Tango was the first victim of the hunt, caught by an explosive.
"Three greens left," Martyn muttered, fiddling with his hourglass.
"Four," Scott corrected, scrolling up on his communicator. "Joel just gained some time from that kill, which means he's green again."
Martyn grinned. "We might need to split up for a bit. He'd make a lovely target right now."
So he left Scott's side for a bit - sure, he'd wanted to be a more consistent bodyguard, but Scott could take care of himself, and he'd already spotted Joel sneaking away from the TIES tower, his bright green eyes visible even from afar.
Martyn's strategy was stealth, creeping around the side of the Clocker's tower with his sword at the ready, but Joel's survival instincts quickly kicked in and he took off into the woods near the mansion. Following silently seemed like Martyn's best bet, but Joel clearly didn't want to lose his newly-gained time, and unfortunately, he knew these woods all too well.
"Who's out there?" He called, refusing to stop moving. "Where are you?"
The chase continued far into the woods until they reached the shore near the beach house, but by then Joel used a few strategic ender pearls to gain some distance and Martyn completely lost him. Which was a shame, but Martyn would get other chances. He sank into the water and began swimming back towards the island, but right before he hit the shores of home, his communicator buzzed.
Instantly he was grabbing it, fingers fumbling on the clunky waterproof case, and there he saw that Scott had died, fallen from a high place.
"Who was it?" Martyn demanded, looking up to see Scott respawning back on the deck of the beach house. "What happened? Are you okay, what-"
"It's fine, it's fine," Scott reassured. His eyes were still bright green, though Scott was clearly still recovering from the respawn, clutching the railing tightly to stay upright. "I let Cleo push me. She had my permission."
Respawning was different in the Games, after all. Sure, any respawn was a bit uncomfortable, considering that your body had to go from dead to alive in a split second. But here, it took a while to recover from a respawn, especially depending on the cause of death. Martyn knew the headaches, nausea, and phantom pain of respawning all too well.
Martyn climbed the stairs and offered his arm to Scott, allowing his ally to steady himself further. "I guess that's alright, then... hopefully it didn't hurt too badly?"
"You know, it's funny, because she hit me with her axe to knock me off. Could have just pushed me, really," Scott muttered, grabbing Martyn's arm like a lifeline.
"Want to lay down for a bit?" Martyn asked. "We might have potion materials around somewhere... that could help alleviate some of the phantom pain?"
"Would be a waste," Scott replied. He shuddered and shook his head a few times, trying to break through the aching disorientation of his respawn. "Gimme a minute, and I'll be ready to go, okay?"
"Sit down, at least," Martyn insisted, guiding his ally over to one of their beach chairs. "I'll keep an eye out, make sure nobody approaches."
Scott looked ready to protest, but when Martyn gave him a stern look, he relented, rolling his eyes. Martyn knew that Scott was clearly not at his best (despite trying to pretend otherwise), especially since Cleo hadn't bothered to make his death even a little bit comfortable. So Scott needed to rest, and Martyn needed to protect him. It was usually common etiquette to give a person space after their respawn, but considering how desperate their pursuers had already been, it didn't seem like something they could count on. Martyn hopped up on their railing and searched the shoreline around them, making sure that nobody was here to attack Scott again.
He spotted someone, after a few minutes. Just as Scott was starting to stand again, looking like he was much less likely to throw up, Martyn saw a familiar figure in a black vest appear from behind an oak tree.
"You feeling alright?" Martyn asked, tightening his grip on his sword.
"I'm fine, Martyn," Scott insisted. "I swear, I'll be-"
"Good." Martyn hopped off the railing. "Then I'm chasing after Joel."
Once again, Martyn tried to use the element of surprise against Joel. But, unfortunately, Joel was so on edge that stealth seemed largely useless, especially since he was constantly spinning around, looking every which way with his sword and shield clutched tightly in his hands. So instead, Martyn considered a new approach to mess with his target's psyche.
Joel had paused for a moment, looking around with wide eyes. He deflected a stray arrow from a skeleton and scurried a bit further through the forest, then coughed.
"You'd better clear your throat before I clear that clock," Martyn hissed, his voice cutting through the woods.
His aim was to scare Joel in order to cause him to fumble, and it worked. Joel actually jumped into the air, nearly dropped his sword, and took a few shaky steps back.
"How're ya feelin, buddy?" Martyn asked tauntingly.
Joel ducked under a stray branch and took in a shaky breath. He'd clearly recognized the voice. "Get away from me, you..."
Martyn bolted forward, ready to strike, but Joel deflected his attack with his shield and took off into the forest, abandoning any chance of a fight. Martyn followed closely behind, but his pursuit was largely useless. The woods were too dense, Joel was too determined, and he had too many ender pearls at his disposal. By the time they reached the mansion again, Jimmy was there, and a 2v1 fight wasn't sounding promising.
"Not even your home is safe," Martyn called out, hoping to keep Joel on edge even though he'd abandoned the chase. "There's no rest for green lives anymore, you know that!"
By then, Martyn wasn't the only one threatening Joel's life. There was an entire army of yellows on the hunt for the few remaining greens, and it was ruthless. Scott had abandoned the island by the time Martyn returned, on the run once again, and the others weren't much better off. Bdubs refused to let Scar or Cleo leave his side, and Impulse was hiding somewhere up on Skynet, armed with a variety of quick getaways.
The hunters weren't the most successful, of course. The yellow lives was incredibly inefficient and poor at communicating, and there were just as many accidental yellow deaths as green ones. After Etho took Joel back down to yellow, Tango even landed an unexpected attack on Martyn, killing him with a surprise boogeyman strike (which cost him two hours AND was an annoyingly painful respawn). But slowly, the number of green icons on his communicator began to trickle down, and one target became clear.
"How is Scott still alive?" asked Joel, his yellow eyes narrowing as he checked his communicator. "He's still green! We all need to target Scott, you hear me?"
"Agreed," Grian nodded. "Martyn, where is he?"
Martyn shrugged, glad that he genuinely didn't know so that he couldn't give anything away. "I haven't seen him for a while now."
"You haven't kept track of him?" Joel questioned, looking skeptical.
"He's off doing his own thing," Martyn insisted. "I'm not his babysitter."
He had to stop them from getting to Scott, of course. But outright fighting them might just get him killed as collateral, so he followed the hunting party to the Neighbor's tower and watched carefully as they tried to get to the top, where Scott had taken refuge on the roof. Scott took a dive down into the river (which was a bit of a precarious jump, considering how shallow and rocky the water was) and raced into the forest, closely followed by Joel and Grian.
Martyn carefully followed along the river and heading towards the beach. Because naturally, Scott was heading for home. Martyn would be able to help defend him from there, especially since both he and Scott were more comfortable in the water than anyone else.
"I'm here, I'm here," Martyn called out when he spotted Scott darting through the woods. "I'm with you."
"I don't tr- Martyn, they're going to kill me..." And it was so strange, because Scott was stammering, unsure, as if he was truly scared (and Martyn couldn't remember the last time he'd ever seen Scott's confidence crumble).
"I'm not turning on you!" Martyn insisted. "I'm here to help!"
"I'm sorry, I panicked, I didn't know if you were- jeez, they just don't stop!" Scott hissed, pausing and looking over his shoulder.
Scott's two pursuers were approaching rapidly, furious and soaking wet from their dip in the river. Joel or Grian alone wouldn't be as concerning, but together they were ruthless, and in seconds Martyn and Scott were both running again, slowing slightly as they reached the beach and started wading into the water.
"If you don't think you can get away," Martyn muttered, kicking off his shoes so they couldn't weigh him down, "tell me, and I'll make it quick. So they don't get your time."
"I think you're going to have to kill me, Martyn," Scott said gravely. "I'd rather it be you, anyways."
"But we can't give up just yet. We can head down to our secret bunker, try to wait them out-" and they were both swimming now, trying desperately to get far enough away from the shoreline.
"Get under, now!" Scott shouted, and they dove beneath the waves, getting as far into open water as they could. They weren't aiming for the island anymore, they were just trying to flee, and Martyn could hear Joel and Grian swimming behind them. It sounded like there were more people joining in - Jimmy and Etho, he realized, who had appeared at the other shore and were in hot pursuit-
"He's got nowhere to run!" Martyn heard Grian yell, just as he reached the surface again and inhaled sharply, needing fresh air.
"We're running out of places to go, Scott, what's the plan?" Martyn called out, trying to ignore how desperate he sounded.
Scott resurfaced, farther away than Martyn had thought. "Just do it Martyn, just kill me." The worst part was how resigned Scott sounded, how miserable. He'd not had a moment of peace the entire session, not since that morning where he and Martyn had gathered together to discuss mining and hours. "Just take it, Martyn, please-"
He dove under the water again, and Martyn followed, with the sound of frantic splashing behind him indicating that their pursuers were close by. Scott wasn't trying to get away anymore. He just dove deep, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, and Martyn followed as closely as he could. Jimmy and Joel were right behind them, diving down with their weapons drawn. But Scott had given him full permission, and Martyn didn't see any other option anymore. Pushing aside his guilt, he swam down next to Scott and drove his sword through his ally's heart, killing him seconds before Jimmy reached them.
Scott's body vanished, and Martyn was alone.
Even though Scott had told him to, even though it had been what his ally had wanted, Martyn felt awful. For a second, he let himself sit on the bottom of the ocean, ignoring the way his lungs were burning for fresh air, not reacting when Jimmy and Joel shoved into him, clearly upset at losing the kill.
If Martyn shut his eyes, he couldn't see that the water was red with blood.
And then, strangely, Martyn felt himself grow lightheaded. He tried to swim upwards, worried that he was fully drowning, but this felt different, almost otherworldly. His entire body was suddenly so heavy, and he couldn't open his eyes anymore - he couldn't see, couldn't move, couldn't do anything-
Then he drifted unconscious, into nothingness.
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A single day
And then it's gone
Doomed to repeat
Our will be done